Professional Documents
Culture Documents
John Baez
January 2, 2016
Introduction
How to Learn Physics
How to Learn Math
Introduction
"How to learn math and physics" - the title is deliberately provocative. Everyone has to learn
their own way. I don't know how you should learn math and physics. But presumably you
came here looking for advice, so I'll give you some.
My advice is aimed at people who are interested in fundamental theoretical physics and the
math that goes along with that. (By "fundamental" physics I mean the search for the basic
laws concerning matter and the forces of nature.) If you want to do experiments instead of
theory, or other kinds physics like condensed matter physics and astrophysics, or math that
has nothing to do with physics, my advice will be of limited use. You should still learn the
basics I mention here, but after that you'll have to look elsewhere for suggestions.
Learning math and physics takes a whole lifetime. Luckily, it's a lot of fun... if you have a
reasonably patient attitude. A lot of people read pop books about quantum mechanics, black
holes, or Gödel's theorem, and immediately want to study those subjects. Without the
necessary background, they soon become frustrated - or worse, flaky.
It can be even more dangerous if you want to plunge into grand unified theories, or
superstrings, or M-theory. Nobody knows if these theories are true! And it's hard to evaluate
their claims until you know what people do know.
So, especially when it comes to physics, I urge you to start with slightly less glamorous stuff
that we know to be true - at least as a useful approximation, that is — and then, with a solid
background, gradually work your way up to the frontiers of knowledge. Even if you give up
at some point, you'll have learned something worthwhile.
This webpage doesn't have lots of links to websites. Websites just don't have the sort of in-
depth material you need to learn technical subjects like advanced math and physics — at
least, not yet. To learn this stuff, you need to read lots of books. I will list some of my
favorites below, and also some you can get free online.
But, you can't learn math and physics just by reading books! You have to do lots of
calculations yourself — or experiments, if you want to do experimental physics. Textbooks
are full of homework problems, and it's good to do these. It's also important to make up your
own research topics and work on those.
If you can afford it, there's really nothing better than taking courses in math and physics. The
advantage of courses is that you get to hear lectures, meet students and professors, and do
some things you otherwise wouldn't — like work your butt off.
It's also crucial to ask people questions and explain things to people — both of these are great
ways to learn stuff. Nothing beats sitting in a cafe with a friend, notebooks open, and working
together on a regular basis. Two minds are more than twice as good as one!
But if you can't find a friend in your town, there are different ways to talk to people online. In
all cases, it's good to spend some time quietly getting to know the local customs before
plunging in and talking. For example, trying to start a rambling discussion on a question-and-
answer website is no good. Here are some options:
There are also lots of interesting blogs, and lots of free math books online.
Finally, it's crucial to admit you're wrong when you screw up. We all make tons of mistakes
when we're learning stuff. If you don't admit this, you will gradually turn into a crackpot who
clutches on to a stupid theory even when everyone else in the world can see that it's wrong.
It's a tragic fate, because you can't even see it's happening. Even bigshot professors at good
universities can become crackpots once they stop admitting their mistakes.
To avoid looking like a fool, it's really good to get into the habit of making it clear whether
you know something for sure, or are just guessing. It's not so bad to be wrong if you said
right from the start that you weren't sure. But if you act confident and turn out to be wrong,
you look dumb.
In short: stay humble, keep studying, and you'll keep making progress. Don't give up - the fun
is in the process.
Classical mechanics
Statistical mechanics
Electromagnetism
Special relativity
and
Quantum mechanics
in roughly that order. Once you know these, you have the background to learn the two best
theories we have:
and
And once you know these, you'll be ready to study current attempts to unify quantum field
theory and general relativity.
If this seems like a lot of work... well, it is! It's a lot of fun, too, but it's bound to be tiring at
times. So, it's also good to read some histories of physics. They're a nice change of pace,
they're inspiring, and they can show you the "big picture" that sometimes gets hidden behind
the thicket of equations. These are some of my favourites histories:
Emilio Segre, From Falling Bodies to Radio Waves: Classical Physicists and Their
Discoveries, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1984.
Emilio Segre, From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries, W.
H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1980.
Robert P. Crease and Charles C. Mann, The Second Creation: Makers of the
Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick,
NJ, 1996.
Abraham Pais, Inward Bound: of Matter and Forces in the Physical World,
Clarendon Press, New York, 1986. (More technical.)
Next, here are some good books to learn "the real stuff". These aren't "easy" books, but
they're my favourites.
Classical mechanics:
Herbert Goldstein, Charles Poole, and John Safko, Classical Mechanics, Addison
Wesley, San Francisco, 2002.
Statistical mechanics:
F. Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics, McGraw Hill, New York,
1965.
Electromagnetism:
Special relativity:
Quantum mechanics:
Anthony Sudbery, Quantum Mechanics and the Particles of Nature: an Outline for
Mathematicians, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986. (Not just for
mathematicians!)
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu und Franck Laloë, Quantum Mechanics (2
volumes), Wiley-Interscience, 1992. (I haven't actually read this, but it's widely
respected for its systematic approach.)
These should be supplemented by the general textbooks above, which cover all these topics.
In particular, Feynman's Lectures on Physics are incredibly valuable.
After you know this stuff well, you're ready for general relativity (which gets applied to
cosmology) and quantum field theory (which gets applied to particle physics).
General relativity - to get intuition for the subject before tackling the details:
Kip S. Thorne, Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, W. W.
Norton, New York, 1994.
Robert M. Wald, Space, Time, and Gravity: the Theory of the Big Bang and Black
Holes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977.
Robert Geroch, General Relativity from A to B, University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1978.
Cosmology:
Quantum field theory - to get intuition for the subject before tackling the details:
Richard Feynman, QED: the Strange Theory of Light and Matter, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, 1985.
Quantum field theory - two classic older texts that cover a lot of material not found in Peskin
and Schroeder's streamlined modern presentation:
James D. Bjorken and Sidney D. Drell, Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, New York,
McGraw-Hill, 1964.
James D. Bjorken and Sidney D. Drell, Relativistic Quantum Fields, New York,
McGraw-Hill, 1965.
Particle physics:
Kerson Huang, Quarks, Leptons & Gauge Fields, World Scientific, Singapore, 1982.
L. B. Okun, Leptons and Quarks, translated from Russian by V. I. Kisin, North-
Holland, 1982. (Huang's book is better on mathematical aspects of gauge theory and
topology; Okun's book is better on what we actually observe particles to do.)
T. D. Lee, Particle Physics and Introduction to Field Theory, Harwood, 1981.
K. Grotz and H. V. Klapdor, The Weak Interaction in Nuclear, Particle, and
Astrophysics, Hilger, Bristol, 1990.
While studying general relativity and quantum field theory, you should take a break now and
then and dip into this book: it's a wonderful guided tour of the world of math and physics:
Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe,
Knopf, New York, 2005.
String theory:
Barton Zwiebach, A First Course in String Theory, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge,
2004. (The best easy introduction.)
Katrin Becker, Melanie Becker and John H. Schwartz, String Theory and M-Theory:
A Modern Introduction, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 2007. (A more detailed
introduction.)
Michael B. Green, John H. Schwarz and Edward Witten, Superstring Theory (2
volumes), Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1987. (The old testament.)
Joseph Polchinski, String Theory (2 volumes), Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1998.
(The new testament - he's got branes.)
Math is a much more diverse subject than physics, in a way: there are lots of branches you
can learn without needing to know other branches first... though you only deeply understand a
subject after you see how it relates to all the others!
After basic schooling, the customary track through math starts with a bit of:
Calculus
Multivariable calculus
Linear algebra
Complex analysis
Real analysis
Topology
and
Abstract algebra
not necessarily in exactly this order. (For example, you need to know a little set theory and
logic to really understand what a proof is.) Then, the study of math branches out into a
dizzying variety of more advanced topics! It's hard to get the "big picture" of mathematics
until you've gone fairly far into it; indeed, the more I learn, the more I laugh at my previous
pathetically naive ideas of what math is "all about". But if you want a glimpse, try these
books:
F. William Lawvere and Stephen H. Schanuel, Conceptual Mathematics: a First
Introduction to Categories, Cambridge University Press, 1997. (A great place to
start.)
Saunders Mac Lane, Mathematics, Form and Function, Springer-Verlag, New York,
1986. (More advanced.)
Jean Dieudonne, A Panorama of Pure Mathematics, as seen by N. Bourbaki,
translated by I.G. Macdonald, Academic Press, 1982. (Very advanced - best if you
know a lot of math already. Beware: many people disagree with Bourbaki's outlook.)
I haven't decided on my favorite books on all the basic math topics, but here are a few. In this
list I'm trying to pick the clearest books I know, not the deepest ones - you'll want to dig
deeper later:
Calculus:
Silvanus P. Thompson, Calculus Made Easy, St. Martin's Press, 1914. Also available
free online at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33283. (Most college calculus texts
weigh a ton; this one does not - it just gets to the point. This is how I learned calculus:
my uncle gave me a copy.)
Gilbert Strang, Calculus, Wellesley-Cambridge Press, Cambridge, 1991. Also
available free online at http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/resources/Strang/strangtext.htm.
(Another classic, with lots of applications to real-world problems.)
Multivariable calculus:
Linear algebra:
I don't have any favorite linear algebra books, so I'll just list some free ones:
Complex analysis:
Real analysis:
Richard R. Goldberg, Methods of Real Analysis, Wiley, New York, 1976. (A gentle
introduction.)
Halsey L. Royden, Real Analysis, Prentice Hall, New York, 1988. (A bit more deep;
here you get Lebesgue integration and measure spaces.)
Topology:
James R. Munkres, Topology, James R. Munkres, Prentice Hall, New York, 1999.
Lynn Arthur Steen and J. Arthur Seebach, Jr., Counterexamples in Topology, Dover,
New York, 1995. (It's fun to see how crazy topological spaces can get: also,
counterexamples help you understand definitions and theorems. But, don't get fooled
into thinking this stuff is the point of topology!)
Herbert B. Enderton, Elements of Set Theory, Academic Press, New York, 1977.
Herbert B. Enderton, A Mathematical Introduction to Logic, Academic Press, New
York, 2000.
F. William Lawvere and Robert Rosebrugh, Sets for Mathematics, Cambridge U.
Press, Cambridge, 2002. (An unorthodox choice, since this book takes an approach
based on category theory instead of the old-fashioned Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms. But
this is the wave of the future, so you might as well hop on now!)
Abstract algebra:
I didn't like abstract algebra as an undergrad. Now I love it! Textbooks that seem pleasant
now seemed dry as dust back then. So, I'm not confident that I could recommend an all-
around textbook on algebra that my earlier self would have enjoyed. But, I would have liked
these:
Hermann Weyl, Symmetry, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1983.
(Before diving into group theory, find out why it's fun.)
Ian Stewart, Galois Theory, 3rd edition, Chapman and Hall, New York, 2004. (A fun-
filled introduction to a wonderful application of group theory that's often explained
very badly.)
Next, here are some books on topics related to mathematical physics. Out of laziness, I'll
assume you're already somewhat comfortable with the topics listed above - yes, I know that
requires about 4 years of full-time work! - and I'll pick up from there. Here's a good place to
start:
It's also good to get ahold of these books and keep referring to them as needed:
Shlomo Sternberg, Group Theory and Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Robert Hermann, Lie Groups for Physicists, Benjamin-Cummings, 1966.
George Mackey, Unitary Group Representations in Physics, Probability, and Number
Theory, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, California, 1989.
Lie groups, Lie algebras and their representations - in rough order of increasing
sophistication:
Brian Hall, Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Representations, Springer Verlag, Berlin,
2003.
William Fulton and Joe Harris, Representation Theory - a First Course, Springer
Verlag, Berlin, 1991. (A friendly introduction to finite groups, Lie groups, Lie
algebras and their representations, including the classification of simple Lie algebras.
One great thing is that it has lots of pictures of root systems, and works slowly up a
ladder of examples of these before blasting the reader with abstract generalities.)
J. Frank Adams, Lectures on Lie Groups, University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
2004. (A very elegant introduction to the theory of semisimple Lie groups and their
representations, without the morass of notation that tends to plague this subject. But
it's a bit terse, so you may need to look at other books to see what's really going on in
here!)
Daniel Bump, Lie Groups, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2004. (A friendly tour of the vast
and fascinating panorama of mathematics surrounding groups, starting from really
basic stuff and working on up to advanced topics. The nice thing is that it explains
stuff without feeling the need to prove every statement, so it can cover more territory.)
Algebraic topology:
Homological algebra:
Category theory:
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. - Jorge Luis Borges